Cleansing the Temple: Removing the "Yeast"

After the festivities had come to an end in Cana, Jesus and His disciples went back to their quiet living. Capernaum was the district where James, John, Peter and Andrew all had their homes. This time period actually represents several months between the wedding at Cana and the Passover. The disciples had gone back to their fishing business and John the Baptist was becoming increasingly opposed by Herod.

At some point during this time Jesus again called the disciples to Him, and they made their way together up to Jerusalem because the Passover was near. John linked these two stories together because of the way Jesus was displaying His glory and His authority to His disciples in an experiential way.

There were three feasts every year in which all Jews were expected to attend in Jerusalem, and the biggest was Passover.

Temple Tax: Money changers would set up their booths in every outlying town a month ahead of time to collect the yearly, mandatory temple tax of half a temple shekel from every grown man. Since only temple money was accepted, everyone had to exchange their money with these money changers at the rate of fifty percent to the value of the coin. Failure to pay could mean a fine or even imprisonment.

Two weeks before Passover the money changers would all take their booths up to Jerusalem, because by now all the pilgrims were heading that way.

Mandatory Sacrifices: Worshipers would also have to buy all their animals for the mandatory sacrifices. They could bring their own animals, of course, but getting them inspected by the Levites would cost a certain fee, and usually the animals were deemed defective, which meant they’d have to buy an animal from the temple anyway – at a big price hike, and only using temple currency.

Ancient historians record that the temple market and money changing had all started out as a ministry to help the worshipers who came from far away. But it had changed into a ruthless business venture belonging to the high priests’ extended family, who were Sadducees.

Originally the open market had been set up in the hill area surrounding the temple, but had eventually crept into the temple itself, into the Court of the Gentiles.

The outer court was the only place where the Gentiles could worship God. There was a death penalty for a Gentile to cross into the inner courts reserved for Jews only.

Imagine the hawking and stench, the straw and manure, the droves of animals, cages full of birds and all the haggling over the money exchange. Imagine the crush of people jostling and elbowing their way from booth to booth, shepherds herding flocks in and out, families struggling to keep their children in tow, hauling their travel bags and now leading their sacrificial animals away.

How could any Gentile worship in that roiling din? Where would they have even found a place to kneel and pray, or lift their hands and voices in supplication to God?

All throughout Jerusalem every household was cleaning the yeast from every room, according to God’s Law concerning Passover. Every household had to be clean. Ironically, at every Passover, only God’s house was unclean. The Lord Jesus had been going to the temple every year since He was a boy. He wasn’t suddenly offended. He had been holding in His offense until His time had come.

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Blended Gospels: The First Time Jesus Cleanses The Temple

After this [the wedding at Cana] he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple
The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there. And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.

And he told those who sold the pigeons, "Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade."

His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

So the Jews said to him, "What sign do you show us for doing these things?"

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?"

But he was speaking about the temple of his body. When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

[John 2:12-22, ESV]

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Wedding at Cana: The Disciples Believed

The disciples belief in Jesus was deepened.

Physical miracles are signs pointing to greater spiritual truths

Jesus is gracious, and He wants to change your potential disaster into a joyous occasion, something that will reveal His glory and strengthen your faith.

How "God-sized" are the problems you and I bring to Jesus?

What situation are you experiencing right now that seems impossible? It’s out of your control

* You have aging parents that need more care than you can give.

* You’ve lost your job, or your spouse has lost their job.

* Your savings are gone and the bills are stacking up.

* Someone in your life has become your enemy and they are either spreading lies about you or are trying to influence other people in your life against you.

* You are facing a medical condition that seems hopeless, or one of your children has been diagnosed with something that you do not have enough resources to handle.

You might have heard other people tell you to “take it to Jesus” and you are wondering just exactly does “taking it to Jesus” mean? He’s invisible, and you’re wondering what He’s been doing anyway, since you’re in the situation you’re in.

Taking it to Jesus means doing what Mary did.

First, know Jesus’ character the way Mary knew Him, without any doubt, with absolute confidence, counting on His compas believing that He is powerful enough, and loving enough and good enough to do the impossible thing that you can’t do.

Then tell Jesus what’s going on, simply and honestly, the way Mary did, trusting Jesus’ not to blare it to the whole wedding party, trusting Jesus to want to do something about it.

And finally, like Mary, surrender all authority to Jesus, being willing to do whatever He tells you to do – through God’s word in the Bible, through wise counsel, and listening in your heart through prayer.

As you experience the Lord’s response to your prayer, in your situation, your faith will be strengthened.

It’s one thing to read about God’s power in a book, and quite another to experience God’s power in your real life. Studying God’s word is about a lot more than gaining knowledge. This is real life, just as it was for that newly married couple in Cana.

Faith must be expectant to be genuine, and must be willing to take a risk on God. That’s the funny thing about faith. You don’t really have it until you start using it.

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Wedding at Cana: Jesus Responds to Mary's Request

Jesus’ was deeply aware that timing was essential. His time was soon, in fact in the next few verses. But this was not His time

"Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come" (John 2:4)

Mary may or may not have understood what Jesus was saying to her, but she did know His character and His compassion, so she told the servants to do whatever He told them to do.

The servants were completely obedient, even though it may have seemed terribly risky to them. The four foot tall stone jugs Jesus was pointing towards, telling them to fill, were standing in the entry hall. The jugs' purpose was menial: they were used to wash the hands and feet of the guests, and the utensils used during the feast. Yet the servants unquestioningly re-filled these six large jugs.

Then they drew water from the jugs, poured the water into fresh pitchers, and brought those pitchers to the master of the feast to taste.

The big question is when this water turned into wine. What must they have been thinking? Really risky to bring water when wine was expected. And yet they were unquestioning, unhesitating in their obedience. Somewhere along their walk from the water jugs to the master of feast, the water became wine.

There is a practical lesson in this miracle about serving God. The water turned into wine as the servants cooperated with Jesus and obeyed His commands. Obedience always let’s you get in on the action, on the inside of what God is doing. To not obey whatever Jesus tells you is to be left out of what He is doing in a particular situation. When you and I obey Jesus and put the water of our efforts into His hands, then as we pour our efforts out as He directs, others find that what you are giving them is rich; it’s the best.

John said that this was the first of Jesus’ miracles, a sign that revealed Jesus’ glory by displaying Jesus' power over creation. By His word a profound alteration took place in those jars, and the result was the best wine anyone had ever tasted.

• That it happened on the third day hinted at Jesus’ resurrection on the third day.

• The marriage feast itself hinted at the marriage feast that will one day be held in heaven.

• Water that could only wash externally was transformed into wine that warmed with joy from within.

• Earthly wine, earthly joy, runs out at some point, but Jesus’ wine is better than any earthly wine, and it will never run out.

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Wedding at Cana: Jesus, His Five, and Marry Attend

On the third day after Jesus had called these five men to be His disciples, there was a wedding in Cana, a small village in Galilee, to which Jesus’ mother had been invited. Jesus and His disciples were also invited.

--> Remember that John and James were Jesus' cousins. Along with their father, Zebedee, they owned a fishing business in Bethsaida. This was the same small town where Peter and Andrew had their fishing business. Philip and Nathanael were close friends, also from the same village. More than likely, all these people were friends, and possibly family, of either the bride, the groom, or possibly both.

Ancient Jewish weddings were not like our western weddings today. Virgins were married on Wednesdays, widows on Thursdays, and all the days left in that given week were given over to feasting.

The groom would prepare the place where he and his bride would live and made all the wedding preparations – the groom and his family paid for the whole thing.

When everything was ready, the groom would send family members and friends, most often at night, over to the bride’s house to escort her back to what would be their new home. It was always a surprise when, exactly, this processional would show up.

Family and friends of both the bride and groom, all carrying torches, would bring the bride to the party. The couple were crowned king and queen, and open house lasted for days.

Weddings were the most sacred of all family events, so much so that even funeral processions had to stop for wedding processions. Every wedding symbolized God’s marriage to Israel, and the wine represented the prosperity and joy of God’s blessing. It would have been disaster if the wine ran out before the wedding feast was over.

It was at the high point of these festivities that Mary came to Jesus to tell Him that the wine was gone. Mary was close to the family, she was familiar with the servants, and the behind-the-scenes activities. She was able to see this potentially devastating situation before it played out and wanted to rescue what was happening.

Mary was not in a position to buy wine, or get more wine, but she went to her Son, Who had always proven so capable and faithful in taking care of her and His family.

Mary didn’t tell Jesus to do anything, she just came to Him with this impossible problem. Of everyone there, she knew best Who Jesus really was, and had been pondering in her heart what that meant. Now, with His newly gathered disciples, at a symbolically rich event, she possibly saw this as the very opportunity for Jesus to come into His own.

Does human pressure or God’s will determine my actions? We know that Jesus only said and did what the Father gave Him to say and do, so this was not Mary's doing; she wasn't in charge of Jesus.

Still, Jesus responded to her with warmth, compassion and power. This was God sovereignly acting. Jesus’ response to Mary reflected a turning point in their relationship that she may not have been expecting. He was preparing her to see Him as her Lord, and not as her son.

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Becoming A Disciple

In our day when someone wants to become a pastor they go to seminary, take classes, earn a degree, work in a church, get ordained. In Jesus’ day, this process was much different.

Around the age of fourteen or fifteen most kids had moved on from studying Torah and talmud, to learning the family business and starting families of their own. But there were a few who showed great promise and continued to study with the village elders and rabbis. These few would apply with a well-known rabbi to become that rabbi's talmidim, his disciple.

Being a disciple was far more than being a student. The goal of the disciple was not just to know what the rabbi knew, but to be just like the rabbi.

So a student of Torah would approach a rabbi and say, "Rabbi, I want to become your disciple." I want to take up your yoke.

The rabbi would then put the hopeful young student through a series of interviews to discover if this young teen had what it took to become like the rabbi and one day spread his yoke. Then he would make his decision.

* If no, he would send the student home to learn the family business.
* If yes, he would say, "Come, follow me." After that it was expected that the student would leave his home and family, his synagogue, his friends, his village and devote his life to learning how to be like his rabbi.

These first five disciples probably did not really know what following Jesus would mean for them. But the Lord was no ordinary rabbi. Jesus was going to develop their faith by showing them Who He is, and what would be in store them as they put their faith in Him.

Jesus wanted His disciples to really know Him, because then they would be able to trust Him. And John will be showing you and me what it will mean for us to follow Jesus.

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Blended Gospels: Wedding at Cana

On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come."

His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the jars with water."

And they filled them up to the brim.

And he said to them, "Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast."

So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now."

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.

[John 2:1-11, ESV]

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Jesus Talked With Nathanael

Philip had run to his closest friend and told him about Jesus. In response to his friend's understandable skepticism, Philip merely said, Come and see for yourself.

Notice that when he came into view, Jesus saw Nathanael, He saw his heart, and said “Here’s a real Israelite.” That must have been humbling for Nathanael, because he had kind of implied Jesus wasn’t, since Jesus was from Nazareth.

Then Jesus said, “In him is no deceit,” or “no guile.” Jesus was saying Nathanael was honest and up front, he had integrity. This must have made Nathanael pretty uncomfortable! How could Jesus understand him like that?

Then Jesus told him,

"Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree." (John 1:48)

What Nathanael said next is remarkable

"Rabbi, you are the Son of God and the King of Israel!" (John 1:49)

That was the most dramatic thing any of these men had said yet about Jesus. How did such a skeptic turn into a believer, just like that? What could possibly have happened in Nathanael’s heart?

The fig tree was the common place for prayer, especially for young rabbinic students. And in Nathanael’s day, the rabbis taught that every time one prayed they were to pray for the coming of the Messiah. So what was Nathanael doing when Philip came to find him? Nathanael put two and two together in his mind. Only Messiah would have seen him praying for Messiah.

Nathanael’s response of faith must have pleased Jesus, because He gave further revelation – that’s what happens when you and I respond to God in believing faith, He opens our eyes to even deeper insight,

"Did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see something even greater. I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man." (John 1:50-51)

This is the first time the term “Son of Man” comes up, and is rich with meaning. We will study more what this phrase means as we get deeper into the blended gospels.

Jesus was talking about Jacob’s dream as he was running away from his brother, falling asleep alone in the desert. Jacob saw the angels going up and down from earth to God and he knew God would be with him. The actual staircase was hidden in plain view! How many people must have read about Jacob’s dream over the centuries and never even thought about the significance of that staircase.

The staircase was Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, connecting God with people.

God uses witnesses to bring people to Jesus

The natural overflow of discovering Jesus for these men was to bring others to Him. So how strong is that natural overflow in your life and mine right now? Which is stronger, self-consciousness, lack of confidence, and wanting people to like you; or a sense of excitement to introduce people to Jesus?

When you and I love God the most, we will point people to Him, and not to ourselves, regardless of the circumstances. How well do you and I do that? How well do we point people to Jesus by urging them to pray and look to the Bible for answers, instead of to ourselves for answers? Who will you ask to “come and see” Jesus this week?

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The First Five Disciples Begin To Follow Jesus

The next day John the Baptist was still preaching repentance and baptizing people, preparing them to follow Messiah. Jesus again came to where John was teaching, so John spoke to the two disciples who were standing near him, intent on what he had to say. Andrew and John heard the Baptist announce once again that Jesus was the Lamb of God.

When John pointed Jesus out to them, there was no question but that they would follow Him.

Do you think their hearts pounded when Jesus turned around and saw them? Pay attention to that. With each person who came to Jesus, Jesus looked at that person and read their heart. As Jesus saw them He said “what do you seek?”

Those are the first words Jesus says in John’s gospel, maybe the first words He spoke as He began his public ministry.

“What are you looking for in life? What are you looking for from Me?”

Think of Who Jesus was and what these two men must have been thinking and wondering about. John and Andrew wanted to be near Jesus and spend time with Him. They wanted to know Him.

So Jesus invited them to come and spend time with Him. They spent an entire afternoon and evening with Jesus, and they fell in love with Him. No doubt the Lord told them something about His mission, revealed their own hearts to them and answered their questions. They were so fascinated they could hardly tear themselves away.

Others can tell you about Jesus, and about God, but you will only really get to know Him by spending time with Him yourself.
* How close am I willing to get to Jesus and how long am I willing to stay with Him?
* Does He ever get a whole day from me, let alone my whole life?

It seems as though both Andrew and John got the same idea of racing to get their brothers,
--> but Andrew was the first to find his brother Simon.
--> Andrew was the first to announce, “We have found the Messiah,” and bring his brother to Jesus.
--> In fact, all throughout the gospels, Andrew was bringing people to Jesus – the boy with the loaves and the fish, and later some Greeks who were looking for the Messiah.

When Simon arrived it says Jesus looked at him. The meaning of that word is to look intently, like looking at a work of art. Then Jesus told Simon he would be Peter, a rock, solid, dependable and true. I think Peter must have hung on to that three years later during the events surrounding Jesus’ trial.

The day after that Jesus decided to go up to Galilee where all these men had their fishing businesses, and He found Philip. Philip was from Andrew and Peter’s home town, Bethsaida, a small fishing village, so probably they all knew each other.

Philip had the same response as Andrew and John, he fell in love with Jesus and went to find his good friend Nathanael. In the other gospels Nathanael is referred to as Bartholomew, “Bar” means “son of,” so he was Nathanael, son of Tolmai, and he and Philip were inseparable friends, always grouped together on later missionary expeditions.

Nathanael was a student of the scriptures, so Philip told him about finding the one Moses and the prophets had written about. But when Philip said Jesus was from Nazareth, right away Nathanael was skeptical. Nazareth was considered only a grade above Samaria, full of Gentiles and the worship of pagan deities. What prejudices are revealed by your and my attitudes?

Did you notice how Philip didn’t argue? He just said what Jesus had said before, “Come and see.” To Nathanael’s credit, he did.

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John and Andrew Continue To Learn About Jesus

2) John also said Jesus was the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
The word baptism comes from the Greek word “baptizo”, which means “immerse” or “wash.” The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an immersion in the Spirit, a total saturation in God that washes away all sin and changes you from mortal to immortal. A new life is created within you by the Holy Spirit, and that new life is eternal.

Are you wondering if you’ve been baptized by the Holy Spirit?
1) Scripture explains that the moment you put your faith in Jesus, then you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

2) If you know you believe in Jesus, and you know that you’ve put your faith in Him, then you will know you have the Spirit.

3) Your life will show it. With God’s Spirit comes all of Who God is, and His character will become visible in you

4) You also receive gifts from the Spirit, an empowering to serve others, especially other believers, in a variety ways. Your prayers are answered in powerful ways, you notice that God makes what you do and say effective in other people’s lives.

5) This is a one time event, scripture explains. But again and again you can be filled to the brim and overflowing with God’s life and power, His Spirit.

Being baptized with water is a visible way of illustrating this profound and powerful spiritual thing that has happened, God creating new life in you.

Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world and baptizes with the Holy Spirit

Have you put your hands on Jesus and confessed your sin? Have you accepted the substitute that God has provided so that you can live forever, instead of suffering the corruption and death that sin brings? Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit? This is the very heart of being a Christian.

When you tell people about Jesus, it’s not about God fixing all the problems, or making sure you have all the things you want, or that you will never suffer again, life will be smooth sailing. We think we want those things. But what we really long for is what we really need, to be forgiven, and to be made one with God and with each other through His Holy Spirit.

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When John and Andrew First Learn About Jesus

John declared Who Jesus is in two ways:
1) Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away sin. This relates back to Adam and Eve when God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, or they would die.

Adam and Eve did eat the fruit of that tree, introducing sin and death into the world, something all people have had to live with up to today. But God, in His mercy, had already prepared a way out. God provided a way for His people to experience and understand His forgiveness. They wouldn't be able to earn it. God forgave them out of His own love and mercy.

The way God provided, to illustrate the awfulness of sin and to point to Himself Who would one day absorb both sin and it's aftermath - corruption and death - was through the sacrificing of an animal that had no flaws.

Typically a person would bring a lamb to the altar and lay their hands on the lamb's head, symbolically transferring their sin to the lamb, before it was sacrificed. Its death represented their own; the result of sin is always death. There was nothing particularly sacred in the animal. The effectiveness of these sacrifices was based entirely on what Jesus, Who is both man and God, would do.

These sacrifices were based on substitution. In Greek this concept of substitution is found in the word huper, which means "on behalf of" or "in another's place." Huper is the chief Greek term for expressing the principle of substitution, and substitution is the chief salvation concept in the Bible.

The animal was sacrificed, killed, in place of the person who was confessing their sin before God. The ultimate expression of this concept was found in the Passover lamb, and this is what John the Baptist meant about Jesus.

The Passover Lamb died in the place of every first born Hebrew the night God judged all Egypt, during the tenth plague. The blood of the lamb saved the lives of every household which had literally painted the lamb's blood on their door posts. The Passover lamb pointed to the Lamb of God Who would one day save the lives of every person who painted the blood of His sacrifice on the doorposts of their hearts.

As the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus had to be without any flaw – not born with the inherited sin nature and not ever having committed sin. Jesus obeyed whatever the Father gave Him, and even submitted to the whole of the Mosaic law though He Himself is God.

By His sinlessness Jesus was qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the perfect substitute to absorb all the punishment and wrath for sin. Because He is God, infinite and eternal, Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all, enough for all sin past, present and future.

We are saved because God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die huper ("on behalf of") us, or "in our place." He stood in our place, as a sinner, and took the full force of the wrath of God for our sins. As a result, we are able to stand before God "as Christ," and be seen in Jesus' righteousness.

To believe this takes faith because we don’t have a lamb to put our hands on, and we don’t have Jesus physically here, either, to put our hands on. So you and I need to figuratively put our hands on to Jesus as we confess our sins, and envision our sin transferring to Him, and believe that His death is in place of the death that your sin and mine brings us.

[Tomorrow: 2) John also said Jesus was the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.]

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John the Baptist Points Jesus Out To John's Followers

The day after John the Baptist had his contretemps with the Sanhedrin's delegation, he was again preaching and baptizing, just like usual. During the course of the day he looked up and saw Jesus walking towards him:

Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! He is the one I told you about when I said, 'Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born.' I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him. (John 1:29-31)

Did you notice that John answered the delegation’s last question? They had asked him five questions:

1) Who do you think you are?
2) Are you Elijah?
3) Are you the Prophet?
4) So who are you then?
5) What’s going on with this unauthorized baptizing?

The baptizing John was doing was part of God’s plan to reveal Messiah.

I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. Before this I didn't know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, 'You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.' (John 1:32-33)

We know from the other gospels that this event had happened about six weeks before. John had not been able to identify Jesus until this moment because immediately after Jesus’ baptism He had gone into the desert for a forty day ordeal of testing.

John the Baptist did know Jesus as a person. He was Jesus’ second cousin. Mary, Jesus’ mother, and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were cousins. When Mary first went to visit Elizabeth, thirty years previously, Luke says John, already filled with the Holy Spirit, leaped inside Elizabeth because of Jesus, being carried inside Mary.

In fact John, the writer of this gospel, was also Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s cousin since John's mother Salome was Mary’s sister. So they were all family. But remember what John had already said in his gospel

The light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him. (John 1:11)

Even Jesus’ own brothers did not know who He was as they grew up with Him

When Jesus came up to John the Baptist to be baptized in the river Jordan, the gospels record John protesting, saying Jesus was really the one who should baptize him. Even before God revealed to the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah, The gospels explain that Jesus grew every day in wisdom and that He had the grace of God upon Him.

In fact, the gospels say that Jesus grew in everybody’s esteem and good opinion. He found favor with God and with people. John had never known Jesus to ever do a wrong thing. That’s why he told Jesus, No, You should be baptizing me, because I know I’m a sinner, but I’ve never known you to sin.

What the Baptist was about to find out was that Jesus was not only perfect, but

I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.

When John baptized Jesus and saw the Holy Spirit come down and rest above Jesus and heard the Father say, “This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased,” that was the sign God had given to the Baptist. But he couldn’t announce Jesus to the world until now, when Jesus had returned from the desert.

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Blended Gospels: Jesus first contact with those who would become His disciples

The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, "What are you seeking?"

And they said to him,"Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

He said to them, "Come and you will see."

So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him and said, "So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas" (which means Peter).

The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."

Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."

Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"

Philip said to him, "Come and see."

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!"

Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?"

Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"

Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these."

And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

[John 1:35-51, ESV]

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John's Witness: The One Who Baptizes With The Holy Spirit

John also said Jesus was the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.

The word baptism comes from the Greek word “baptizo”, which means “immerse” or “wash.” The baptism of the Holy Spirit is an immersion in the Spirit, a total saturation in God that washes away all sin and changes you from mortal to immortal. A new life is created within you by the Holy Spirit, and that new life is eternal.

Are you wondering if you’ve been baptized by the Holy Spirit?
1) Scripture explains that the moment you put your faith in Jesus, then you have been baptized in the Holy Spirit.

2) If you know you believe in Jesus, and you know that you’ve put your faith in Him, then you know you have the Spirit

3) Your life will show it. With God’s Spirit comes all of Who God is, and His character will become visible in you

4) You also receive gifts from the Spirit, an empowering to serve others, especially other believers, in a variety ways. Your prayers are answered in powerful ways, you notice that God makes what you do and say effective in other people’s lives.

5) This is a one time event, scripture explains. But again and again you can be filled to the brim and overflowing with God’s life and power, His Spirit.

Being baptized with water is the visible way of illustrating this profound and powerful spiritual thing that has happened, God creating new life in you.

Jesus is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sins of the world and baptizes with the Holy Spirit

Have you put your hands on Jesus and confessed your sin?

Have you accepted the substitute that God has provided so that you can live forever, instead of suffering the corruption and death that sin brings?

Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit?

This is the very heart of being a Christian.

When you tell people about Jesus, it’s not about God fixing all their problems, or making sure you have all the things you want, or that you will never suffer again, or that life will be smooth sailing. We think we want those things. But what we really long for is what we really need, to be forgiven, and to be made one with God and with each other through His Holy Spirit.

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John's Witness: The Lamb Who Takes Away The Sin Of the World

John declared Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away sin.

This relates back to Adam and Eve when God told Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, or they would die. Adam and Eve did eat the fruit of that tree, introducing sin and death into the world, something all people have had to live with up to today.

But God, in His mercy, had already prepared a way out. God provided a way for His people to experience and understand His forgiveness. They wouldn't be able to earn it. God forgave them out of His own love and mercy.

The way God provided, to illustrate the awfulness of sin and to point to Himself Who would one day absorb both sin and it's aftermath: corruption and death, was through the sacrificing of an animal that had no flaws.

Typically a person would bring a lamb to the altar and lay their hands on the lamb's head, symbolically transferring their sin to the lamb, before it was sacrificed. Its death represented their own; the result of sin is always death. There was nothing particularly sacred in the animal. The effectiveness of these sacrifices was based entirely on what Jesus, Who is both man and God, would do.

These sacrifices were based on substitution. In Greek this concept of substitution is found in the word huper, which means "on behalf of" or "in another's place." Huper is the chief Greek term for expressing the principle of substitution, and substitution is the chief salvation concept in the Bible.

The animal was sacrificed, killed, in place of the person who was confessing their sin before God. The ultimate expression of this concept was found in the Passover lamb, and this is what John the Baptist meant about Jesus.

The Passover Lamb died in the place of every first born Hebrew the night God judged all Egypt, during the tenth plague. The blood of the lamb saved the lives of every household which had literally painted the lamb's blood on their door posts. The Passover lamb pointed to the Lamb of God Who would one day save the lives of every person who painted the blood of His sacrifice on the doorposts of their hearts.

As the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus had to be without any flaw – not born with the inherited sin nature and not ever having committed sin. Jesus obeyed whatever the Father gave Him, and even submitted to the whole of the Mosaic law though He Himself is God.

By His sinlessness Jesus was qualified to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins, the perfect substitute to absorb all the punishment and wrath for sin. Because He is God, infinite and eternal, Jesus' sacrifice was once and for all, enough for all sin past, present and future.

We are saved because God sent the Lord Jesus Christ to die huper ("on behalf of") us, or "in our place." He stood in our place, as a sinner, and took the full force of the wrath of God for our sins. As a result, we are able to stand before God "as Christ," and be seen in Jesus' righteousness.

To believe this takes faith because we don’t have a lamb to put our hands on, and we don’t have Jesus physically here, either, to put our hands on. So you and I need to figuratively put our hands on to Jesus as we confess our sins, and envision our sin transferring to Him, and believe that His death is in place of the death that your sin and mine brings us

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John the Baptist Publicly Announces The Christ

It was the day after John the Baptist had gone toe to toe with the delegation from the Sanhedrin. He was preaching and baptizing, just like usual, when he saw Jesus walking towards him and said:

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." [John 1:29-31]

The baptizing John was doing was part of God’s plan to reveal Messiah.

And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' [John 1:32-33]

We know from the other gospels that this event had happened about six weeks before. John had not been able to identify Jesus until this moment because immediately after Jesus’ baptism He had gone into the desert for a forty day ordeal of testing.

John the Baptist did know Jesus as a person. He was Jesus’ second cousin since, Mary, Jesus’ mother and Elizabeth, John’s mother, were cousins. When Mary first went to visit Elizabeth, thirty years previously, Luke says John, already filled with the Holy Spirit, leaped inside Elizabeth because of Jesus, being carried inside Mary.

In fact John the apostle, the writer of this gospel, was also Jesus’ and John the Baptist’s cousin since his mother Salome was Mary’s sister. So they were all family. But remember what John had already written about Jesus coming into the world

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [John 1:11]

Even Jesus’ own brothers did not know who He was as they grew up with Him.

When Jesus came up to John the Baptist to be baptized in the river Jordan, the gospels record John protesting, saying Jesus was really the one who should baptize him. Even before God revealed to the Baptist that Jesus was the Messiah, The Gospels explain that Jesus grew every day in wisdom and that He had the grace of God upon Him. In fact, the gospels say that Jesus grew in everybody’s esteem and good opinion. He found favor with God and with people.

John had never known Jesus to ever do a wrong thing. That’s why he told Jesus, no You should be baptizing me, because I know I’m a sinner, but I’ve never known you to sin.

What the Baptist was about to find out was that Jesus was not only perfect, but

"I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." [John 1:34]

When he baptized Jesus and saw the Holy Spirit come down and rest above Jesus and heard the Father say, “This is My Son in Whom I am well pleased,” that was the sign God had given to the Baptist. But he couldn’t announce Jesus to the world until now, when Jesus had returned from the desert.

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John's Witness: The Lord Is God

John described the fullness of Jesus’ grace

And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. [John 1:16-17]

Look at that phrase “grace upon grace” or “blessing after blessing.” The first grace, or blessing, from God was the law He gave to Moses. Through that Law people came to know God’s holiness and perfection, which none of us can match on our own, and also God’s generous forgiveness which the sacrifices only symbolized, always pointing to Jesus.

The next grace, or blessing, that God gave was His own Son, Jesus Christ. The grace and truth of Jesus are the same as life and light. Life is the gracious gift of God to all His creatures, and light is the understanding of truth, the illumination of truth. True life and true light only come through faith in Jesus

No one has ever seen God, John said,

No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. [John 1:18]

Jesus, the unique one and only, fully man and fully God Who is at the Father’s side, has made God known to us.

To know God, look at Jesus

Just as a scientist studying quantum physics can show that one particle can be in two places at the same time, the apostle John could, by his own eye witness testimony, along with John the Baptist’s, demonstrate that the Word was not only with God, but the Word actually was God, too. It seems impossible, it’s a mystery, but it is true.

Even those who were closest to God never saw Him, not Moses, not Abraham, not King David. And John agreed, only Jesus has seen God, and He has made God known to us. We now can know what God looks like, because we can see Jesus.

In what ways are you experiencing Jesus’ grace and truth right now? Maybe you’re not there yet, maybe you’re not even sure what that would look like. Keep studying, thinking, meditating and talking with God. Ask Him to help you apprehend His light and experience His life.

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John's Witness: The Incarnate Word Dwelt Among Us

Because we are made in the image of God, our original design was to display God's holiness. And because God made people like Himself, people have the ability to be in relationship with God. Being in loving fellowship with God is every person's greatest purpose, every person's greatest good, deepest fulfillment, pleasure, happiness and satisfaction.

So John went on to say that

...The Word became flesh and dwelt among us

Literally, that word “dwelt” means “tabernacled,” which would have made the Jews think immediately of God’s tabernacle in Exodus. During the desert years, the Hebrew people lived in tents, and God had a tent pitched for Himself as well, which would be His home, so He could live among the people.

God’s Shekinah, the pillar of fire and cloud which was the visible aspect of His presence, descended on the tabernacle and tented with the rest of the Hebrews in the desert.

The law was kept and put on display at the gate of God’s tabernacle. It was the place of revelation, where Moses would speak to God face to face, and God would speak to the people.

People came to God’s tent, the tabernacle, to worship Him and at the tabernacle, the sprinkled blood of sacrifices would symbolize God’s forgiveness for their sin. Now Jesus fulfilled all that by taking on a body to tabernacle in with His people

...And we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

The glory that Moses had asked God to show him, John saw in Jesus.

Jesus was fully man, but He never stopped being God. John the Baptist gave his testimony that even though Jesus had been born six months after the Baptist, and even though Jesus started His ministry after the Baptist had start prophesying in the desert, still

John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'"

Jesus is from eternity.

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The Incarnate Word

To the Greeks Logos was an abstract philosophy, and in fact a heresy had been growing in the church in John’s time that claimed Logos was a spirit that had entered Jesus when He began His ministry and then left Him before the crucifixion.

This heresy was called Docetism, from the Greek word “dokeo” which means “to seem.” It was a form of Gnosticism that said Jesus only seemed to be both man and God.

So John carefully chose his words to dispel any misunderstanding about Who Jesus is

And the Word became flesh [John 1:14a]

In the original Greek text those two words appear side by side, “Logos sarx became,” “The word flesh became.” The word, the creative thought and energy of the universe, became a soft, vulnerable baby. This is called the incarnation:
* the infinite became finite,
* the eternal became conformed to time,
* the invisible became visible,
* the supernatural one chose to reduce Himself to the natural.

He did not cease to be God. He willingly laid aside some of the privileges of glory, but He never gave up His deity. This is the hard part to truly grasp. Jesus is fully God and fully man.

Amazingly, this was what God had in mind from the very beginning. He designed human beings to be the bearer of Himself. Every person has the capacity for God and a hunger for God. God created people in His own image, the image of Jesus, and made us to correspond to Himself, the way Eve was made for Adam. Being made in God's image means that people are made as personal, moral and spiritual beings.

Spiritual
God gave some animals the ability to think and feel in a "soulish" way, as the Bible puts it, but only Adam received God's breath, or "Spirit". When a person is reborn, the Lord fills – totally saturates and permanently alters – believers with His Holy Spirit. People are designed to contain God's Holy Spirit in the most intimate communion possible.

Personality
People have intelligence, the ability to think and to know, to understand ideas -- we have the ability to think God's thoughts after Him, to share in the Mind of Christ.

We also have emotions, specially designed to experience God in a different way than thoughts: adoration of His beauty, reverence towards His holiness, awe at His power and perfection, a response of love to His own loving kindness, compassion and mercy. People have a will – the ability to make choices, to reject or receive the light.

God gave people the gift of language, the ability to communicate with God and to understand His unique revelation of Himself.

Morality
Jesus has always shined the light into darkness, by giving every person the innate ability to tell right from wrong, which is called the conscience. From the beginning God has always given each person a simple test, to teach us how to know, and understand in an experiential way, the difference.

Right is obedience to God's word, and wrong is choosing something apart from God's expressed will.

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Witness to the Word: Rebirth

The rebirth experience takes place deep in the human spirit, God accomplishes this miracle.

It’s not something you or I can do, and you may not even feel it happening. A mother does not feel the moment when a baby is first formed deep inside her, and yet there that baby is, tiny and growing.

New life has begun, and God knows the moment. He nurtures that new life and is in charge of its growth, and with that life comes light, the ability to understand God’s revelation of Himself, in the world around you and in the Bible

Jesus gives His life to all who receive Him and believe in His name

If you are recognizing that God has brought you to a place of decision, don’t worry about what you’re supposed to say, or how you’re supposed to act. Just talk to God, find some time to be alone with God and tell Him what’s on your mind and in your heart. Tell Him you realize you need to make a decision and you’re ready to receive Him into your life.

God will hear you, and He will act. He’ll do all the work of bringing you into new life.

In time, and by God’s generous, undeserved love, that new life will change you and mold you into the likeness of Christ Himself. It is a growth process that takes time and patience. You and I don’t suddenly, magically become perfect. You and I grow after our rebirth just like babies grow after being born; God designed us that way.

Just as God sent John the Baptist as a witness to prepare people to understand and apprehend the light, so you are going to find that God has done a lot of work beforehand before He brought you to this moment. When you look back now, you will see all the places where God was at work preparing you.

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Witness to the Word: Receiving Jesus

Every human being comes into this world by birth. There’s simply no other way to get here except to be born. And the same is true for those who enter the kingdom of God, you must be re-born.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. [John 1:11-13]

John listed the ways that people mistakenly think they can come to God.

First, he said, this new birth is not of blood, or by natural descent, in other words, not by inheritance, or by human ancestry. What that means for you and me today is that we don’t inherit being Christians because our parents or grandparents were Christians. Being raised in a Christian home and going to church all your life, going to a Christian school, being involved in lots of Christian activities does not automatically make you a Christian.

Next, John listed “the will of the flesh,” or human decision. When you were born into this world, it wasn’t your idea. In fact you didn’t have anything to do with it at all except to be there. It was all your parents’ choice. Being reborn carries with it the same idea that it is God’s gift to you and me out of His grace, His generous, undeserved love. Being reborn is not accomplished by your or my volition. It’s God Who gives new birth.

Third, John brought in “the will of man,” or some translations say “the husband’s will.” In other words, you and I can’t make ourselves Christians through positive thinking, or simply calling ourselves Christians, or by deciding to live a good, Christian life, or turning over a new leaf or any of those things.

By the same token, no one else can decide for you. Your parents couldn’t make you a Christian and neither can a minister or a priest, or your friend who prays for you every day or your spouse, or anyone. This is between you and God.

In the same way, you and I can’t make our children Christians either. Each individual must respond to Jesus’ light on their own terms. This is between each person and God.

No ceremony, no reciting of words or saying special prayers or creeds, or going forward, or performing certain rituals makes a person a Christian. John was saying that God’s children can only be “born of God.”

It is a new birth, accomplished by God within the human heart. Because it is all God’s doing, and no one else’s, it is accomplished beyond any human effort.

And it is available to all who believe the Word, who with their mind accept the facts and understand the light, who with their emotions respond with desire and with their will give themselves to Jesus and receive Jesus as their own.

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Witness to the Word

It might seem strange that John the Baptist would appear so early in John’s account. But this points to one of the heresies that John was combating – there were groups of people in as late as 200 A.D. who were worshiping John the Baptist as the Messiah.

The apostle John had started out as a disciple of John the Baptist; he knew him well. So the apostle John quoted the Baptist several times as saying he was not the Messiah, but a messenger.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. [John 1:6-8]

The emphasis here is right at the end, the Baptist understood that he was not the light, but he was to prepare the people to believe the true light when they saw it.

The task of a witness is to point to the truth. You know the phrase “to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth.” We use that in a court of law because that is what everyone is expecting the witness to do, to bring out the truth.

In fact everyone who knows Who Jesus really is, is called to be a witness to the truth. Witnessing is both verbal and nonverbal – to keep integrity, the words have to match the life of the person saying the words.

* How well does your life act as a witness to the true light of Jesus? Well how much of Jesus’ light, His wisdom, is active in your life? That’s how you would know.

* How capable are you of telling the whole truth about Jesus? Give it a try today, and see.

The Baptist identified Jesus, Who otherwise looked like an ordinary person, as the true light. Some would be repelled by the light, and others would be drawn to it. Most people did not even recognize the light - in spite of the Baptist’s testimony.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [John 1:9-10]

The Creator came and the creatures didn’t even know Who He was.

“World” is another word John uses, in most cases, to refer to the created order that is now in rebellion against the Creator. John said that this light was coming into the created order which was now in darkness, in rebellion, against the source of light. The world couldn’t apprehend the light because of spiritual blindness.

But even more amazingly,

He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. [John 1:11]

Jesus came to His own home, that’s the sense in the Greek, and even His own people did not recognize Him.

These were the covenant people of God, who had been entrusted with God’s law, His covenants and His promises for thousands of years. These were a people who had been actively waiting for their messiah since the days of Moses. God had specially made these people to be His own treasured possession. Of all people, these people were by far the best equipped to recognize and receive the Messiah.

But they didn’t.

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The Eternal Word: Light Overcomes Darkness

It’s hard for us to accept that we live in a world of darkness. Think of all the scientific advancements, of our great social and technological progress. Think of all the great things we’ve done just in the last two hundred years.

But if we’re honest we have to admit that regardless of all of our impressive advances, we have not changed basic human problems of fear, hate, violence, injustice and crime.

The light is intellectually the truth and morally holiness, which is contrasted to the darkness of intellectual error, and moral wrong doing.

John was not suggesting that the whole activity of life is the fight between light and darkness. This isn’t yin and yang. What he was saying is that light will not ever be overcome by darkness – it’s the nature of light to always penetrate darkness, light can not be taken hold of, or even understood by darkness.

So in these opening lines John introduces an incredible mystery: this carpenter from Nazareth is not only a man but God Himself.

* The Creator had become a part of His own creation.

* The source of deepest wisdom had limited Himself to being born as a baby and learning as a little child.

* The origin of life and light was going to submit Himself to death and the darkness of a grave.

Everything in the universe owes its life to God, including you and me

Have you felt that your life is your own, that you can make decisions about your life, without bringing God into it?

Or are you seeking to know God, to know what He wants?

What areas of your life might still be shrouded in darkness?

How willing are you to let Jesus’ light pierce the darkness?

How determined are you to make the most of your opportunity to study God, and to study His word?

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The Eternal Word: Source of Light and Life

Continuing in the theme of Genesis, John declared that Jesus is the Creator of all things. Look at the parallel between Genesis 1:3 “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’” and John's account,

All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [John 1:3-4]

Here is God the Son at work, He is Logos, Debar, the eternal Word, the force behind the universe, speaking into being what the Father has conceived and designed. Everything that was made, the material and spiritual worlds, were made by Jesus and for Him.

Jesus is the source of life and light. All other life depends on Jesus as the source of life. Think about life. What is life? You can tell the difference between life and death, but define exactly what life is without using that contrast.

In fact, life is one of the great mysteries of science and philosophy. No one really knows what life is, what it is that animates all these carbon-based enzymes and basic elements that make up life. But here is John saying that life is Jesus, He is the source of all life.

And with life comes light. Light, as John used the word, is a symbol of knowledge, understanding and truth, and it points to the kind of life that goes beyond our physical, temporary life. Understanding and truth point to eternal life.

Then John introduced a hint of the struggle that would happen when light came into the world

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. [John 1:5]

The original Greek word that is translated “overcome” actually means “to lay hold of, to lay hands on, to seize.” That can mean either as a hostile act, or in order to possess, so sometimes it’s translated “to understand.”

John was saying that darkness can’t get a hold of the light, darkness can’t possess light, it can’t apprehend or comprehend light. Think of what light does in a dark room. Darkness just can’t win. No matter how tiny the light is, darkness has to recede. Darkness and light cannot exist together.

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The Eternal Word

In the first few verses of his gospel, John makes the clear and uncompromising claim that Jesus is God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [John 1:1-3]

This was not written about some epic hero, or some ancient legend, but about a thirty year old carpenter out of Nazareth. A regular guy, by all outward appearances Who, sixty years before John wrote this gospel, had made headline news.

John was now saying that this man, this carpenter and itinerent preacher-healer, was God. You recognized how John tied in with Genesis “In the beginning...” – the first words of the Bible. Now John added more information to that – in the beginning, before Genesis, there was the Word, and the Word was with God and was God.

“Word,” the English word, comes from the Greek word Logos, which was familiar to the Greeks in their philosophy just as it was familiar to the Jews in their philosophy.

To the Greeks, Logos meant “First Cause,” the reason or the will behind the universe, an unknowable force. Plato once wrote that he hoped a Logos would come from God some day to make the meaning of life clear.

In Hebrew this word was called “Debar” and it was God’s expression of Himself, “Thus saith the Lord.” Logos, or “Debar,” was the word that proceeded from God’s mouth and accomplished what God intended to do, almost as a synonym for God Himself.

So this Logos concept incorporated the idea that this was God.

But John was saying that Logos, the Word, was another personality with God. The nuance of the word “with,” in Greek, meant that Logos looked God straight in the eye, did not kneel as a subject, or look down as a superior, but looked on as an equal. John was grappling with one of the deepest mysteries of God: the Trinity. “The Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

How could one God be more than one Person? That’s impossible. Yet here is the mystery, that the Word was so intimately involved with God that their thoughts and purposes were one. The Word and God were one, as Jesus would later say, “I and the Father are one.”

But how could both Jesus and the Father be God? How could the Son be His own Father? Yet here John declared that the eternal Word was a Person separate from God, with God, and yet also was God.

There is no other way to translate these words without violating the laws of Greek grammar, though people have tried. John was taking great pains to make his point clear: There is only one God, and Jesus was one with that God, and Jesus is God.

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John the Baptist's Erstwhile Disciple, John the Apostle

The apostle John was one of the sons of Zebedee, from a wealthy family and educated in several languages: Hebrew, the language he prayed in and heard the scriptures in, Aramaic the common language of that area, and Greek, the international language of his day. It’s possible that he also spoke Latin because of the Roman occupation.

John worked in his father’s thriving fishing business, and owned his own boat and his own house. We know he had at least one brother, James who was probably the older brother since he name was almost always mentioned first in passages.

John's mother Salome was a woman of faith, who believed in the kingdom that Jesus was teaching about, and she was also an ambitious woman, who asked Jesus outright if her two sons could sit on thrones at Jesus’ right and left hands when He came to reign in glory.

Salome was one of the faithful who stood with her son John and Jesus’ mother Mary, at the foot of the cross, as Jesus died. And she also was one of the women who brought spices to Jesus’ tomb early Easter morning. THere is some evidence that Mary and Salmoe were sisters.

John’s brother James was the first apostle to be martyred, in 44 A.D., when Herod killed him with the sword, as recorded in Luke's book, Acts 12

John was one of the first four men to follow Jesus. He and Peter had been disciples of John the Baptist (which he tells about in the first chapter of his gospel) and began to follow Jesus at the Baptist’s urging.

John did not refer to himself by name in his book, but called himself "the one Jesus loved." That truth must have gone very deep for John, because by the end of his life love is what he wanted to write about.

John and James were called the sons of thunder, because of their fiery tempers, and for their bold, zealous natures. One outburst is recorded in Luke 9, shortly after the transfiguration, when James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven on a Samaritan village to wipe it out Sodom-and-Gomorrah style, because the village had refused to follow Jesus, or let them to pass through on their way to Jerusalem.

John was also one of three disciples, along with Peter and James, who became very intimate with Jesus. Jesus took only them when he healed Jairus’ daughter, when he was transfigured, and Jesus invited these three to go with him to Gethsemane to pray. John was the only one of the twelve to go all the way to the cross with Jesus.

In Acts 4 Peter and John stood up boldly to the Sanhedrin when they were commanded not to proclaim Jesus. In fact Peter and John were constant companions in those early years as they preached the gospel together and built up the church.

John outlived all the other disciples, and as he aged he became known as the apostle of love. Along with this gospel John also wrote three letters, and the Revelation that was given to him near the end of his life, when he was exiled on the island of Patmos.

John found in Jesus not only his closest friend, but also the focus of his life.

He started out as a fiery hot head, and he became the wise and loving man we see reflected in his writings. He started out as a prosperous fisherman and he became a fisher of men.

The first three gospels, Matthew Mark and Luke, are called the synoptic gospels - syn for "alike" optic for "look" because these three gospels look alike, they correspond to each other in many ways, each with its own nuance, or emphasis.

John’s work is called the supplementary gospel because his goal was not so much to add facts to the account of Jesus’ life and ministry, but to supplement the facts already written with spiritual insight. Your notes go into more detail about how each of the gospels is both unique and harmonizes with the other gospels.

The gospels are not biographies, but different portrayals of the same person as seen through the eyes of four different men. They are complementary, not contradictory.

Matthew speaks of – the coming of a promised saviour
Mark speaks of – the life of a powerful savior
Luke speaks of – a perfect savior
John speaks of – the possession of a personal savior

For the most part, Matthew, Mark and Luke are set in Galilee, while John is mostly in Judea. In the synoptic gospels, Jesus is in action, addressing multitudes, performing miracles, giving teaching and parables. Whereas in his gospel John records his own reflections, like in the first chapter, and shows Jesus often in meditation, speaking to His disciples, or in prayer with the Father.

The synoptics include things John omits. John does not discuss much of Jesus’ early years of ministry, he doesn’t record the institution of Lord's supper, and he doesn’t describe Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

In fact the feeding of five thousand is one of the few events found in all four gospels, it was that important, but John is the only one who explains the spiritual significance.

John had been the closest to Jesus, sensitive to Jesus’ thoughts and meaning. Now, as he came to the end of his life, the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle John to write a reflective gospel, one that would bring out the deeper truths that Jesus had taught.

John presented Jesus not just as the Son of Man, but as the unique Son of God, so he began his gospel not at Jesus’ birth but in eternity, time before time, when Jesus eternally existed as God.

John set out to write a deeper story, one that brought out the wisdom of Messiah Jesus, a spiritual gospel that revealed Christ’s divine nature and would stir readers to believe in their hearts that He was God. John wrote his gospel sometime between 80 and 90 A.D. and concluded his account with the promise of Christ’s return.

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Blended Gospels, The Testimony of John the Baptist

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life,[a] and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.

The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

John bore witness about him, and cried out, "This was he of whom I said, 'He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.'" And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

And this is the testimony of John, "I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."

These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.' I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel."

And John bore witness: "I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, 'He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God."

[ESV, John 1:1-18, 26-34]

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Temptation of Christ: Jesus' Victory

And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. The devil left him and behold, the angels came and were ministering to him. [Blended Gospels]

Jesus’ victory in the desert sustained Him throughout His ministry, as Satan tempted Him again and again to achieve His aim through ungodly means, shortcuts, going out of God’s will.

Jesus would not bribe people into following Him. He would not be a sensationalist to get people to follow Him. He would not compromise with the faith and holiness He demanded. His face was set like flint to follow the way of the cross.

God's word is living and powerful to resist temptation

Every temptation can be met and overcome through God's word and the Spirit.

* What are you yielding to right now that you know is not of God?

* Are you refusing the cross and trying to figure out how to get the results of a spiritual life without paying the cost?

* How well do you know scripture? Well enough to balance what you hear with the truths that the Bible teaches? Or are you trying to figure out how to get permission for what you want by searching for a verse that seems to give it?

The real power does not come from knowing scripture and speaking it. It comes from living by faith, applying the truth of God’s word to your life by the power of the Spirit.

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